sleep
by LuckyGalaxySeven
Summary: Tony Stark fell asleep, and he's not waking up. Pepper doesn't know what to do with herself anymore. (Sorry I suck at summaries)


Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction, and it's just a oneshot, so let me know what you think! I could really use some advice, 'cause I'd like to move on to the bigger, longer stories. So, if you guys could give me some reviews, that'd be great :D So anyways, thanks for reading!

Pepper had seen a lot of scary things in her life. She had almost died multiple times, watched things be blown up or crushed with people inside them, seen cities crumble, and watched so many brave people meet their end.

She hated it all, but she put up with it for Tony. He had been so lost before Afgahnistan. When he became Iron Man, he found out who he was. He liked all the fast moving superhero business. Pepper didn't, but she didn't want to hurt Tony by saying it. She kept it to herself and went about her daily work while Iron Man saved the world over and over again. It was very stressful sometimes.

Pepper didn't scare easily anymore. Of course, for the first year or so that Tony became a superhero, her life was terrible. Everytime something would happen, she would scream at the top of her lungs. She knew she would never fully become used to it, but she could try. And she had gotten better. Especially since New York.

But this was worse than anything that had ever happened before. There weren't any explosions, no saving the world, nothing heroic. Tony wasn't waking up.

He had went to bed a week ago and he had slept in. Sure, he slept in sometimes, but never until two o'clock. She went into his room finally and tried to wake him up. He wouldn't wake up. She called the hospital and they took him away.

She tried to be at the hospital whenever she could, but she had to take care of the house and the company too. She was scared to death.

She tried to put on a brave face and live out her day like she normally would, but she was terrified. The doctors had told her that he probably wouldn't wake up, and that she could probably do anything she wanted with Stark Expo. She didn't want to do anything with it. She wanted Tony to wake up.

After a month and a half, she was panicking. She told Rhodey, and he had dropped his work and came to help her with the company. She needed all the help she could get. She could barely sign any papers without her hand shaking and messing up her signature. Calls would come in for 'Mr. Stark', but she couldn't answer them anymore and repeat the news to anybody else. She had heard it enough times already. Rhodey answered them for her while she sat in the hospital, staring at Tony. Willing him to wake up.

He never moved. He just laid in one spot on the hospital bed, eyes sealed shut. Pepper didn't know if he was dreaming or just in a deep sleep. His eyelids would flutter every once in a long while, and she would get a glimmer of hope. And then it was gone.

She cried onto his chest on a daily basis until she couldn't produce any more tears for that day. She would sit by his bed and beg him to wake up, even though she new it was useless. She demanded to know what he was being given to him to wake him up, just in case the doctors wanted him asleep for some reason. They didn't, but Pepper was becoming paranoid.

She couldn't sleep at night anymore. She had nightmares that were just as scary as her day, if not worse. She would wake up screaming almost everynight. Rhodey had taken to sleeping on the couch. He couldn't leave her alone. She would go insane.

Two months passed, and still Tony slept, alone in his dream world. None of the doctors or nurses knew what had triggered the coma to happen. But when a girl is worried about her man, she automatically becomes the best detective known to the earth. Pepper knew. And she was determined to find who had done it. She didn't what she would do when she found who had poisoned his drink, but it wouldn't be pretty.

Two months went by. Pepper hadn't slept in days. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't lead the company anymore. She couldn't even take care of the house. She wouldn't eat. All she did was sit by Tony's bed and stare at him, tears streaming down her face. Superheros weren't supposed to die like this. Then, a couple days later, Bruce Banner came buy Tony's house. Rhodey answered the door. "Yes?" he asked.

"Um, hi... I'm a friend of Tony's... He invited me here a while ago. I was, uh, wondering if he was here?" Bruce asked.

Rhodey had never seen him before, and didn't like strangers that much. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Um... I'm Bruce." he said.

It took a minute, but then it clicked. Rhodey knew who it was. "Oh! Tony's talked a lot about you." he said. "But, I'm afraid you can't talk to him."

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't really know what's going on exactly. His hospital room number is 349. Go see him. Pepper's there." he said.

Bruce was a little startled, but he went anyways. And sure enough, when he got there, Pepper was bawling her eyes out. She had went through two boxes of Kleenex in the last half an hour. When Bruce came in, she jumped.

"W-who are you?" she asked.

"A friend." he said simply.

Pepper stood up so sharply her chair fell over. "Friend? Who are you?" she asked again.

Bruce took a deep breath, sincerely hoping that the girl didn't say much more. "I'm Bruce." he said.

Pepper blinked. In the last few months, names had all but abandoned her. She knew Rhodey, Tony, and her own. That was about it. She racked her brain for any Bruces. She only remembred a few. Two of them had to do with Stark Expo, but the last one was just a name Tony had mentioned more than once. She remembred a lot of what Tony told her. Bruce. Bruce who? Bruce Bunker? No. Bruce Baggins? That didn't sound right. Bruce Butcher? She didn't think so. Bruce Banner? Bruce Banner! That was it. He was one of the Avengers.

She studied him. "Dr. Banner?" she asked.

He nodded, rubbing his hands together nervously. "Oh. Why are you here? There's nothing to see." she snapped, forgetting, or maybe not caring, that she should be nice around him.

"I didn't know he was, uh, like this. But, now that I'm here, I thought, maybe I could help." he told her, stepping a little closer.

Pepper tensed, but forced herself to pick up her chair and sit back down. "Help how?" she asked sharply.

"I just thought that maybe I might now how to wake him up."

Pepper watched him closely as he walked over to the bed and began studying Tony. She never took her eyes off of him, and when he touched his forehead, she stiffened and gripped the arms of her chairs.

Bruce glanced at her, then went back to his work. After a very stressful ten minutes, he straightened. He didn't say anything. His mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Where are you going?" Pepper asked.

"I'll be back." he said and left the hospital.

As soon as she was sure he was gone, she tore her eyes away from the door and stared at Tony, hoping he would wake up. She knew that it was probably in vain, but she still hoped anyways. That was what barely kept her going. Hope was all she had.

She sat there, unmoving, for four hours. She never took her eyes off of Tony's face. And she barely noticed when Rhodey came up and sat by her. Then, when Bruce came back, she managed to look away. She didn't say anything for a while as he studied Tony some more.

Then, she was snapped out of her stupor when he pulled out a syringe. She jumped up. "What are you doing?" she shouted.

Bruce didn't answer. He patted Tony's arm with a wet cotton ball and pulled a white latex glove on. A second later, Pepper and Rhodey were on Bruce. He flinched, trying to control himself and quickly jabbed the needle into Tony's arm.

Pepper screamed. Rhodey had a look of pure stupidity on his face. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Then, Tony's eyes snapped open. He gasped for air. Pepper gasped too, trying to process what had just happened. Bruce smiled a small smile to himself.

Tony sucked in more air, then fell back against his pillow. Pepper ran over to his bed and grabbed his hand. "Tony! Are you okay?" she cried.

A nurse walked by and saw him awake. She ran in and started making sure he was alright. Tony groaned and coughed a little bit, then managed to sit up on his bed. "Yeah." he croaked.

He looked around. "Wow. I'm popular. Where am I?"

"In the hospital." Rhodey supplied.

"Why am I in the hospital? I can't even take a nap without someone thinking I'm going to die?" Tony asked.

Pepper started crying again. These tears came easier though. Tony studied her face. "Tears of joy?" he asked.

She nodded, a smile spreading across her face. She had never been happier.

Tony glanced around again. "Hi Bruce. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Waking you up." he said.

"Waking me up- how long have I been asleep for?" he asked.

"Two months." Rhodey said.

Tony didn't say anything for a long time. Eventually, he found his voice. "That explains why I'm so hungry. Does anybody have any food? I could really use a tuna sandwitch."


End file.
